Have you ever seen one of those time-lapse video’s in a bus
station or maybe in a big city intersection? Everybody is flying
all over the place in this jumbled mess of massive activity.
They all have somewhere to go or something to do, but when
you look at it from that level, it looks like something that
borders on chaos.

This is how our day can look when we glance back at it and
wonder were all our time went and why we didn’t get all of our
stuff done. We see a mass busy-ness with what seems like a lot of
productive activity.

But…

When you slow it down, zoom in and see what actually happened,
you notice, there’s one person in the train station who walked up
to the newsstand and stayed there for about 30 minutes, just
flipping through magazines. You notice another person who ran
into a friend and 40 minutes later, said farewell and continued
on.

This is what happens in our day. From a distance, it’s a
mass of activity, but when we really look closer, we see the Devil
in the details.

Start An Activity (or Productivity) Journal

If you ever want to know why you can’t lose weight, even though
it seems like you’re trying, start a food journal.

Write down every single thing you eat and what time you ate it.
Make sure you record the quantity as well. There are
apps that can do this for you, including one I like called
MyFitnessPal. You can use it to see if you’re staying within
your calorie goals and if your macro nutrients (Protein, Fat and
Carbohydrates) are in alignment with your desired diet plan (I
won’t get into what I think is best… too controversial).

The same thing is often recommended when someone starts a
household budget … and certainly with every business, they need to
be tracking where every dollar goes and comparing it to their
budget.

In households, you start by writing down EVERY penny you spend.
Do it for a given period of time so you can capture as many
of the infrequent items as possible. Today, we have apps like
MINT which will do this automatically. Just make sure you’re
assigning everything to a category and you’re including your cash
expenses.

If this works for food and for money, it will work for time as
well. But I’ve only met a handful of people who take the time
to do this. Most people believe their too busy to spend the
time it would take to write down everything they do all day long,
for a few days.

BUT, I DON’T HAVE TIME

Honestly, you don’t have time because you don’t take the time to
figure out where your time is going.

I was reading about someone who broke their day up into 6 minute
blocks and wrote it all out on a sheet of paper and then started
filling out where each 6 minutes went. 10 blocks per
hour.

You can even set a reminder on your smartphone to ask “what have
you been doing the last 6 minutes.

Maybe 6 minutes is too detailed… don’t let that stop you.
Begin by looking at every 15 minutes just four times per
hour. If it’s really tough, do 30 minute increments.

I think anything bigger than that wouldn’t give you a clear idea
of what happens with your time.

You only have to do this for a few days.. a week at the MOST and
it will give you SO much insight, you’ll instantly know where your
time is going and you’ll be able to adjust what you expect from
yourself each day.

Categorize The Results

Break down your results into several different categories.

I would definitely include something called “LOST TIME.”
This is down time that wasn’t intentional. You just saw
someone in the hallway and you started to chat about the NBA finals
or something. Next thing you know, 20 minutes are gone.

Some other suggested categories are:

Meetings

Phone Calls

Answering Email

Research

Rest Time (intentional)

Eating

Family Time

Travel

You may have a few others that work for you.

Tools to Use

There are some great tools you can use to keep track of this,
but honestly, I’m going to keep those for Friday’s episode.

Call to Action

Do this today… even if it’s just during your work hours, write
down what you’re doing every 6, 10, 15, 20, or even 30 minutes.
Take action

Also, go back to
episode 66. I talk about creating a Time Budget. It’s
really the next step after doing today’s project.

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About the Podcast

This show will help you find abundant success in your personal as well as business life. You'll be lead towards greater achievement in your physical well-being, accomplishments in your business or career, and true joy in your relationships, by focusing on your attitude and mindset.
Your host, P. Desmond Adams will show you how to "change the world around you by changing the world within you." Desmond will teach you how to see all of life's experiences as beneficial to your whole being, discover how to be steady and consistent in your efforts so you can finally finish what you started, increase what you accomplish in life with the same amount of time and effort, and understand the greater purpose of your existence and how that will bring an unimagined peace within.
You'll benefit from over 30 years of study Desmond has done through the teachings of personal development and self-help teachers such as Tony Robbins, Napoleon Hill, Gregg Braden, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Wallace Wattles, Jack Canfield, Ernest Holmes, Rhonda Byrne and the one who finally helped Desmond discover the secret to the Law of Attraction, Charles F. Haanel.